Chapters 3 and 4 of Eva Luna were alright, nothing exponentially exciting to read, but they were okay. A general note that I wrote down at the end of reading the two chapters was that Allende seems to be playing around a lot with the senses, and scent/smell in particular. I wonder if she is doing this on purpose, to trigger sense memory within her readers in order to allow them to fully engulf themselves in the story. I know this mechanism is working for me so far! There were a lot of smells described in chapter 4:
When Rolf first comes into South America, "The air was vibrant with sound-hawkers' cries, women singing, children's laughter, parrots' squawking-and steamy with sensuality and odors warm from the food stalls." (Allende 86)
On page 92-92, Aunt Burgel's most attracting dish is described, practically making the reader's mouth water. The word, "scent" or "smell" isn't used once in the description, but the detailing of the foods used and how she cooks them are enough to make the readers recognize and connect this more exotic but "close to home"dish to an a comfort food they, themselves, are fond with.
Twice in this chapter, the two cousins are described as smelling like a mixture of "cinnamon, clove, vanilla, and lemon" (Allende 93,99) in this exact order. The reader can infer that these scents made Rolf feel comforted and allured, as well as surrounded by a feminine aura.
I very much appreciate Allende's writing style, as it comes very easy for me to read and pretty intriguing. The sense memory tactic is also extremely affective, because every reader can relate and connect to a certain sight, smell, taste, touch, or sound in some way.
One question I had was why Rolf became so depressed and disappointed in himself for not killing his father, and beating his father's students "to the punch." I realize that there must have been some guilt, however death is death and the job is done at the end of the day. The family no longer has to survive with his wrath and oppressiveness. I think that Rolf secretly had a certain feeling of obligation to his father; after all, he didn't even put up a fight or leave like Jochen did when they walked in on their father sexually humiliating their mother. Just a thought!
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